Archive for March, 2009

Mar 31 2009

Vietnamese food at Miss Saigon

Published by Foong under Restaurants, Where to eat |

I’ve never eaten Vietnamese food before and had no idea what it’s like at all. All I could think of was that it probably has rice and noodles and that’s as far as I could think. I didn’t know if it was spicy like Thai food or pickled like Korean or raw like Japanese. So, I didn’t really suddenly decide to try it out.

It was all those insidous ‘marketing’ by people I know. Every once in a while, I’d hear someone rave on and on about how great the food at Miss Saigon is. So, in the end, we gave in and went there to try for ourselves.

msaigon2 Vietnamese food at Miss Saigon

msaigon Vietnamese food at Miss Saigon

The ambience is good enough, considering it is one of a row of restaurants at E-Gate.

msaigon3 Vietnamese food at Miss Saigon

I ordered tea and I like it that they serve it in a mini tea pot and in a thin heart-shaped china cup. Cute.

msaigon4 Vietnamese food at Miss Saigon

We took the lazy way out and ordered one of the huge sets for four which practically contained everything from fish to chicken to egg to vegetables to spring rolls. I’ll have to say one thing though, the waiters aren’t local and their English aren’t very good either SO there is plenty of room for misunderstanding. We specifically said we don’t eat beef (due to religious reasons) and told them to replace the beef on this set with something else. Well, it came without the beef although I had suspiciously sniffed at every dark-coloured meat just to be sure.

BUT.

We also ordered a bowl of rice noodles soup.

msaigon5 Vietnamese food at Miss Saigon

It came with beef in it. That is despite our repeated reminders that we don’t eat beef! Fortunately, the waiter was kind enough to change it for us after we explained it to him for several painful minutes of gestures and broken English mixed with Bahasa.

We also ordered a plate of rice with grilled chicken for Mr Picky:

msaigon6 Vietnamese food at Miss Saigon

Well, I have to say, Vietnamese food is not as strange as I thought it would be although it too has quite a number of beef dishes. Surprisingly, I liked the food there and though not exceptionally good, it passed muster. However, I’d prefer that their waiters learn more English.

Not exactly cheap, mind you, but still, quite reasonably priced.

Rating: 6/10

Price: $$$

Miss Saigon Restaurant

E-Gate

Tel: 04-3776083

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Mar 29 2009

Chicken recipes: Boiled chicken and homemade chicken stock

Published by Foong under Asian Food, Chicken Recipes, Healthy food |

I know, boiled chicken just sound so bland. And boring. And plain. But do read on and you will see that it is not bland, boring or plain. Just look at it…

boiledchick3 Chicken recipes: Boiled chicken and homemade chicken stock

Far from being boring, it is so flavourful that the remaining sauces from the boiled chicken is pure neat chicken stock. Talk about a two in one dish! And yes, this dish is pretty healthy as it involved loads of vegetables and no deep frying to be seen!

Chicken Recipes: Five Spice Boiled Chicken Recipe

boiledchick6 Chicken recipes: Boiled chicken and homemade chicken stock

Ingredients

1/2 chicken, chopped into small pieces

2 tbsp five spice powder

2 tsp salt

2 carrots, cut into chunks

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 large tomato, cubed

4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, cubed

2 pods garlic

2 cups water

boiledchick Chicken recipes: Boiled chicken and homemade chicken stock

Instructions

1. Season the chicken with the five spice powder and 1 tsp of salt for at least an hour.

2. Heat up the pot of water and then dump all the ingredients in and the rest of the salt.

boiledchick2 Chicken recipes: Boiled chicken and homemade chicken stock

3. Lower the heat and let it simmer partially covered for up to an hour. By then, you’d get a very thick sort of ‘gravy’ and you can dish out the chicken and vegetables.

boiledchick4 Chicken recipes: Boiled chicken and homemade chicken stock

If you noticed, I didn’t remove the chicken skin. I felt that by not removing the skin, it gave even more flavors to the chicken stock. Although a bit oily, I’m quite fine with it.

If you have a crock pot / slow cooker, it is even easier. Just dump everything in, set it at low and leave it on overnight and you’ll get tender chicken with absolutely wonderful gravy and chicken stock.

boiledchick5 Chicken recipes: Boiled chicken and homemade chicken stock

Just remember to set aside some of the gravy as chicken stock to be used in your cooking.

boiledchick7 Chicken recipes: Boiled chicken and homemade chicken stock

See? Boiled chicken aren’t all that bland after all and it even produced a great by-product of chicken stock!

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